1. Field
This invention concerns medical alarm systems and particularly systems which can quickly detect and warn the patient himself, the medical staff, or other attendants who may be caring for the patient, e.g., at home or in a hospital, of unexpected excessive or heavy bleeding such as can occur when a wound or incision reopens unexpectedly or when a medical device such as an I.V. tube, syringe, catheter or the like is untimely or inadvertently pulled from a patients artery or vein.
2. Prior Art
Applicant is unaware of any prior systems or devices which are designed to function as described above.
The invention in one of its preferred embodiments is defined as a monitoring and alarm system for detecting excessive or heavy bleeding from medical patients and for alerting medical attendant(s) wherein the system utilizes a relatively thick sheet-like blood porous base element of electrically non-conductive blood porous material having a proximal side adapted for mounting directly on a patients skin or on a blood porous protective gauze or bandage thereon at a site on the patients body where excessive bleeding can occur unexpectedly, the base having a distal side supporting a normally open electrical circuit, electrically actuable alarm means electrically connected into electrical circuit, electrically actuable alarm means electrically connected into the circuit, and electrical switching means for the circuit responsive to contact with blood to close the circuit and actuate the alarm means to alert said medical attendant(s) to said excessive bleeding.